500 m in diameter, amazing, if you need “scale” just ask the Chinese, was thinking 500 m it means like 5 footbal stadiums, beside the real purpose of FAST, now curious to know how much rain it “collects” yearly : )
This aerial drone photo is relatively recent one (Jan. 16, 2026), it shows China’s 500 m Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope FAST under maintenance in southwest China’s Guizhou Province. Through studying the observation data of China’s gigantic radio telescope, an international research team has uncovered compelling new evidence supporting a binary-system origin for at least some fast radio bursts, one of the most enigmatic phenomena in modern astrophysics. These findings made by the research team, led by astronomers from the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, are based on observations using FAST, and have been published online in the journal Science.
(Photo: Ou Dongqu – Xinhua via Getty Images, via Science)
“The OECD data indicate that for at least a decade, China has increased overall research spending at nearly 10% annually, eclipsing the U.S. rate of increase. In 2024, for example, China boosted R&D spending by 9.7%, nearly triple the 3.4% increase in the United States” – says Dennis Normile, in Science Insider, April 2, 2026
